What is up with people?

I am sure that’s a question many people are asking right now. Especially with it being so hot outside and the economy still being so bad it seems like people are running on very short fuses. And I totally understand.

My rant for the day—nay, really for the past month or two—has been that I am sick of people who take advantage of me, take me for granted and generally don’t pony up the same level of friendship to me that I give to them. I’ve been trying my best for my own sake to become a more patient and less stressed out person. (Not unlike the prayer of St. Augustine: make me chaste but not just yet, LOL. Lord, make me more patient, calmer and low-key but please do it right now. I don’t want to be patient for the patience to come. *major laughter*) There are certain situations and people we all have in life that stress us out and that we cannot avoid. But I have been feeling lately that it is to my betterment to do what I can to weed out the people and situations in life that do cause me unnecessary stress. (The key part of that being “unnecessary stress.”) There are people we all seem to collect along the way: drama queen friends who make life sound like a 24-hour soap opera; crabby friends who are never happy themselves and never happy for you; jerks who think life is all about who they are and what they want; friends who drain the marrow from your bones and offer nothing to you in return; lazy friends who put forth only 40% effort into everything in the world, including the friendship with you, etc.

I’ve had enough. I have found that it makes for a calmer, nicer week that ironically goes by much faster when I choose not to surround myself with these kinds of people. I am also trying as best I can to mirror back to people the treatment they give to me. It may not ever sink in that I am attempting to make a point but it does make me feel better—as though I have measured out some small sense of justice. People who never initiate communication with me but who expect me to answer their emails or texts in 10 seconds are not getting that from me anymore. That gravy train has ceased. I started noticing one day that there are people in my life who only seem to want to be friends if I put all the effort into it. If I send an email or a text message, they’ll respond whenever they feel like it, sometimes days or even weeks later. To me, that’s shitty. I am like Greg Behrendt: the world is so technologically connected that it takes a conscientious choice to ignore someone. The example he uses in HJNTIY is that he’s accidentally dialed people on his cell phone from his pant pocket. It makes me mad when I know that someone has read my message and is putting me on the back burner even though when s/he sends me a message, the expectation is there that I will put life on hold and answer in 10 seconds or less. It’s not fair and I am not doing that shit anymore. If you can’t find time to talk to me, I can’t find time to talk to you. Another good example is a friend I have who only wants to go out on his terms and his timeline. It’s never about what’s convenient for me or what I would like to do. We either go where he wants to, when he wants to, or we don’t go at all. So for the past few weeks, it’s been not at all. The funny thing is that I thought it would be difficult to cut some ties here and there but it actually hasn’t been. It’s given me an opportunity to do some much needed things for myself and to start paying attention to who cares about me as a person versus who is a selfish, self-serving ass. To the asses, I say (in best N*Sync voice) BYE BYE BYE.